[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 35, Number 33 (Monday, August 23, 1999)]
[Pages 1641-1644]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks at the Unveiling Ceremony for Public Service Announcements on 
School Violence

August 17, 1999

    Leilani, most people twice your age couldn't do that. [Laughter]

Earthquake in Turkey

    Ladies and gentlemen, because this is my first chance of the week to 
speak to the press, before we get on to showing the spot I have to say 
just a couple of words about the awful earthquake that occurred in 
Turkey, which I'm sure a lot of you have heard about. It has claimed 
hundreds of lives and many injuries.
    So let me begin by saying, on behalf of all Americans, our thoughts 
and prayers are with the victims and their families. Most of you know 
that Turkey has been our friend and ally for a long time now. We must 
stand with them and do whatever we can to help them get through this 
terrible crisis.
    We've already released aid for the Turkish Red Crescent. We're 
sending a team to Turkey to help with search and rescue today. Our 
Energy Secretary, Bill Richardson, and General Hugh Shelton, the 
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, are actually in Turkey, and they 
have personally conveyed our willingness to provide additional 
assistance. General Shelton has met with his Turkish counterpart to 
offer the military's help with disaster relief. And we will continue to 
determine what further help is needed. But you can only imagine how 
difficult this is for them, and we will do what we can to help.

School Violence

    Now, let me thank Leilani again and Wyatt Keusch and Harrison 
Boatwright, who are the young people here with us, who are also in the 
PSA. I want to thank Secretary Riley and Attorney General Reno, who have 
really done a wonderful job of trying to have a coordinated and balanced 
approach to keeping our children safe. Governor Romer, thank you. I want 
to thank all the people here from the entertainment industry, Jack and 
Richard and Eddie, Sheila and all the others who stood up. Thank you so 
much for your generosity and your farsightedness. Thank you, Peggy 
Conlon, you're a great spokesperson for the people you represent, and 
you've been great in helping us to get this far. And I want to thank my 
long-time friend Drew Altman and the Kaiser Foundation for their support 
in this endeavor. I'd also like to thank the young AmeriCorps members 
who are here today, who spent a lot of time working with our young 
people and trying to help them stay safe. This is a very important issue 
to Hillary, to me, to our entire administration.
    In 2 weeks Leilani's going to start at a brand new school. That's 
probably more scary than introducing the President to a

[[Page 1642]]

bunch of strangers. [Laughter] And you know, there are always a lot of 
worries associated with going to a new school: All these strange 
people--are they going to like me? Am I going to like them? You've got 
to get to know the teachers; you've just got to find your way around; 
got to remember the combination to a new locker. [Laughter] Those are 
the things that our kids ought to be worried about.
    They shouldn't be worried about whether what they saw in Littleton 
or Conyers or what that young madman in Illinois and Indiana or at the 
Jewish community center in L.A. could possibly happen to them. That's 
what they shouldn't worry about. But they do because they've seen the 
press reports and so has our entire Nation.
    We're still grieving for the young children, the teacher, the 
counselor, the receptionist, at the Jewish community center, or the 
family of that young Filipino-American, Joseph Ileto, who was killed 
only because he was an Asian-American who worked for his country's 
government.
    Secretary Riley has gone across the country trying to make sure that 
all of us can put this in some kind of context. The Attorney General 
has, as well. The crime rate in this country's at a 26-year low; 
juvenile crime is going down; the Center for Disease Control and the 
Department of Education show that overall violence has actually 
decreased in our schools. It's important to tell these children here 
with us today, and others, that the chances of a tragedy happening are 
small, less than they used to be, less than one in a million.
    But that's not good enough when you see how horrible it is when it 
occurs. Schools ought to be right next to our houses of worship as 
sanctuaries in America. They ought to be places where young people are 
completely safe and absolutely certain that they are. And each of us 
bears a responsibility. If Hillary is right that it takes a village to 
raise a child, it will take our whole national village to keep the 
Nation's children safe in their schools.
    A big part of that responsibility lies with parents and giving 
parents and their children the capacity and courage to communicate with 
one another. And that's a big part of why we're here to launch this 
public service campaign.
    As you will see in a moment, the PSA sponsored by the Kaiser Family 
Foundation, by Children Now, and the Ad Council sends out a powerful 
call to action: If you're a child and you see someone committing 
violence or even just talking about it--that's very important, given the 
evidence we now have about the situation in Colorado and others--if you 
see someone just talking about it, the best thing you can do is to first 
tell your parents. And if you're a parent, you have to take it 
seriously. You have to sit down and talk and listen, to draw your 
children out, to give them a chance to express their fears, to give you 
early warning, and then to share that early warning with your children's 
teachers and principal.
    This is an important message, so I'd like to, again, with thanks to 
all concerned, turn the lights out and watch the ad.

[The public service announcement video was shown.]

    The President. Thanks to the commitment of America's broadcast and 
cable networks and cable channels, this ad and others like it will be 
seen by just about every single person in America who turns on the 
television tomorrow night, during the family hour of prime time.
    This so-called television roadblock is really unprecedented. The 
networks are donating a million and a half dollars of free air time in 
one night alone. That's more blanket coverage than I get for the State 
of the Union. [Laughter] Many of the networks have already pledged to 
continue airing these PSA's during different timeslots for the remainder 
of this year.
    So let me say once again, I am very, very grateful to all the people 
involved who have fulfilled the commitment that they made at our youth 
violence summit in May, to use the power of your medium to send out 
positive messages to our children. This is a kind of thing we can do 
when we work together, and we need to continue to do so and to include 
all parts of our society.
    You remember that when we had the national summit, the First Lady 
and I said we wanted to organize a national campaign

[[Page 1643]]

against youth violence, to have the same sort of galvanizing impact on 
our people that Mothers Against Drunk Driving, Students Against--I think 
it's now called Destructive Decisions, the campaign to promote seatbelt 
use. These grassroots campaigns can have a profound effect on the way 
Americans think and the way they behave. It will be much, much easier 
now, because of the work that all of you involved in the media have done 
to bring these public service spots to the people of the United States. 
But we also need our organized campaign.
    So today I have the honor of announcing and introducing the person 
who will be the executive director of this campaign. His name is Jeff 
Bleich, and he's here with us on stage. He's been recognized by the 
American Bar Association as one of our country's leading young 
attorneys. He's also one of San
Francisco's leading civic-minded citizens. He is the father of three 
beautiful children he desperately wants to have a safe childhood. He has 
received several prestigious awards for his pro bono legal service. He's 
built strong connections in Silicon Valley and in Hollywood, both of 
whom can be of immense help to us in this endeavor. And perhaps most 
important, he has written a very fine book on youth violence. So I'd 
like to ask Jeff to stand up, and to thank him for his service. 
[Applause] And thank you for taking on this challenge to protect our 
children.
    Today the Department of Justice is also releasing $15 million to 
fund innovative partnerships between local police and school and 
community groups, something the Attorney General has been pushing since 
the first day she came here. These partnerships will help schools do 
everything from training students in conflict resolution techniques to 
combating drug dealing and use on school grounds.
    But as every police officer in America knows, we're kidding 
ourselves if we think we can conquer youth violence without addressing 
one of its undeniable catalysts, the appalling ease with which young 
people gain access to guns. Hillary has already said, and you know that 
I strongly agree, it is long past time for Congress to step up to its 
responsibility and restore some common sense, sanity, and strength to 
our Nation's gun laws.
    Today I ask the Republican majority: When you come back to work, our 
children will be going back to school; think about them; let's not wait 
until the next senseless tragedy to pass commonsense gun safety measures 
to protect them.
    Now, I know in a country of 270 million people, and tens of millions 
of guns, no law can stop every disturbed person from committing a 
violent act with a gun. But we would never do anything, as a people, if 
we gave in to the objection that all of our actions would have less than 
100 percent impact. The Brady bill has kept over 400,000 gun sales, 
which should not have occurred, from happening. It has saved countless 
lives. Closing the gun show loophole will have the same impact. Closing 
the loopholes in the assault weapons ban will have the same impact.
    Doing these other things--will they solve every problem? No. Will 
they stop every act of violence? No. Will they prevent every madman? No. 
If we used that kind of excuse, we would all stay in bed every day. We 
would never get out of bed. We would never get out of bed. We would 
never hit a lick. So we need all the tools at our disposal. Look what 
these media people have done. Will this public service ad get every 
parent in America and every child to talk about every dangerous thing 
that happens at every school? No. But it will have a huge impact.
    And so if the media people are doing their part and the school 
people are doing their part and the law enforcement people are doing 
their part, it is time to pass the reasonable and entirely modest 
measures before the Congress. For those who want to do more, I say, so 
do I. But that is no reason not to do this. This will make a difference. 
And it is certainly not an argument not to do it, that it won't solve 
every problem. It will save some lives, and we ought to do it.
    We have got to work together. That's what our national campaign is 
about; that is the message that the Ad Council is putting out in these 
ads; and down deep inside, that's what all of us know we need to do, so 
that when we see children like Leilani--don't you wish all you ever had 
to worry about was that the kid you're pulling for can get through the 
speech in front of the strangers--[laughter]--can make it through the 
athletic event,

[[Page 1644]]

can play the solo or sing the song that is so excruciatingly difficult 
the first time you did it? These are the things that our children ought 
to be worried about. We ought to give our kids back their childhood. And 
we can do it, if we do it together.
    Thank you, and God bless you.

Note: The President spoke at 11:12 a.m. in Presidential Hall (formerly 
Room 450) in the Old Executive Office Building. In his remarks, he 
referred to students Leilani Tassillio, who introduced the President, 
Wyatt Keusch, and Harrison Boatwright; Jack Valenti, president and chief 
executive officer, Motion Pictures Association of America, Inc.; Richard 
Masur, president, Screen Actors Guild; Edward O. Fritts, president and 
chief executive officer, National Association of Broadcasters; former 
Gov. Roy Romer of Colorado, board member, and Peggy Conlon, president 
and chief executive officer, Ad Council; and Drew E. Altman, president 
and chief executive officer, Henry J. Kaiser Foundation.